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United States Executive Order 9066 was a presidential executive order issued during World War II by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, using his authority as Commander-in-Chief to exercise war powers to send ethnic groups to internment camps.
World War II internment
This order authorized U.S. armed forces commanders to declare areas of the United States as military areas "from which any or all persons may be excluded." It was eventually applied to one-third of the land area of the U.S. (mostly in the West) and was used against those with "Foreign Enemy Ancestry."
The order led to the Japanese American internment in which some 120,000 ethnic Japanese people were held in internment camps for the duration of the war. Of the Japanese interned, 62 percent were Nisei (American-born, second-generation Japanese American) and the rest were Issei (Japanese immigrants and resident aliens, first-generation Japanese American). Losses incurred by those affected during this time were estimated in the billions of dollars.
The Secretary of War (then Henry L. Stimson) was to assist those residents of such an area who were excluded with transport, food, shelter, and other accommodations.
Though Japanese Americans were by far the most widely-affected, several thousand Italian Americans and German Americans were also subjected to similar restrictions, including internment.* * * *
Opposition
Notably, one of the few voices in Washington opposed to internment was FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. By the time of WWII, after nearly a decade of Democrat control of Washington under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Hoover was one of the few Republicans left with any power. His opposition to internment is ironic, considering how some labeled his career as one in opposition to civil liberties. Eleanor Roosevelt was also opposed to Executive Order 9066, and unsuccessfully tried to convince her husband not to sign it.
Post-World War II
Executive Order 9066 was finally rescinded by Gerald Ford on April 19, 1976. In 1980, Jimmy Carter signed legislation to create the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC). The CWRIC was appointed to conduct an official governmental study of Executive Order 9066, related wartime orders and their impact on Japanese Americans in the West and Alaska Natives in the Pribilof Islands.
In 1983, the CWRIC issued its findings in Personal Justice Denied, concluding that the incarceration of Japanese Americans had not been justified by military necessity. Rather, the report determined that the decision to incarcerate was based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership." Lastly, the Commission recommended legislative remedies consisting of an official Government apology; redress payments of $20,000 to each of the survivors; and a public education fund to help ensure that this would not happen again (Public Law 100-383).
On August 10, 1988, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, based on the CWRIC recommendations, was signed into law by Ronald Reagan. On November 21, 1989, George H.W. Bush signed an appropriation bill authorizing payments to be paid out between 1990 and 1998. In 1990, surviving internees began to receive individual redress payments and a letter of apology.
See also
External links
- Text of Executive Order No. 9066
- Instructional poster for San Francisco (April 1)
- Instructional poster for Los Angeles (May 3)
History of racial segregation in the United States | Legal history of the United States | United States executive orders | 1942 in law
"Executive Order 9066"